Vogue 8601 muslin

I've really been dragging my feet with regards to this jacket. I'm really excited about having the jacket in my wardrobe, but getting to the sewing process has been really frustrating. For some reason, I have had a really hard time getting the fit right on this jacket. After 4 (I think) muslins, I think I might be close.

Here's my fashion-y hand on hip pose, where you can see what I like about this jacket. For this muslin, I actually totally trashed all of the changes I had previously made to the bodice fronts (which included a large FBA, shortening the bodice both above and below the bust as well as letting out the lower princess seam a little) and started back with the unaltered pattern. I added 1/2 inch to the side front panel at the level of the bust and below, blending into the original seamline at the upper princess seam notch (which is right at the top of the bust). I made no alterations to the front.

What I got was the picture on the left. Boxy, frumpy and just bad. After all the work I had put in, I almost tossed in the towel at this point. It looks dreadful! But I was thinking about Phyllis's post about proportion, and I wondered if it wasn't my short waist, fighting with the waistline of the jacket (and losing!). I took a 3/8 inch tuck all around the jacket at the waistline, and ended up with the shot you see on the right. And despite the slouchy, unflattering pose, I like it!

It made a big difference in back as well. I had already shortened the back about an inch, so I was surprised that I needed to lose even more length back there. I am seriously short waisted!

The sleeve still need a lot of help, and maybe the shoulder as well. Do you think that shoulder seam needs to come forward a little? The sleeve is definitely rotated forward. There was just too much ease in the back half of the sleeve to ease it in. I'll remove some of that ease in the back and try again with the shoulder point in the correct place.